• Question: I have heard about a soldier who lost the lower half of his body and still managed to have children. Is there such thing as prosthetic male reproductive parts to allow them to have children and sexual intercourse?

    Asked by 677srge46 to Dominic, Maedeh, Matthew, Matt, Monica on 15 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Matthew Oldfield

      Matthew Oldfield answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      Hi. I really don’t know this. At work I’m also a bit afraid to do a Google search to find out. Maybe the soldier had made preparations for the worst before he went to war. I’m not familiar with the story. It’s nice that he was still able to have a family!

    • Photo: Matthew Round

      Matthew Round answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      I know there are prosthetic testicles for people who have lost one or both to surgery but these would be incapable of creating sperm needed for procreation.

      Of course sexual intercourse isn’t always a pre requisite for conception. The medical team may have harvested the sperm prior to surgery and used IVF. It’s hard to guess without knowing the case.

      It also shows how brave our serving men and women are. I hope the soldier gets all the support they need.

    • Photo: Monica Rozeik

      Monica Rozeik answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      I agree with Matt. You can have prosthetic male reproductive parts although they can’t be used to have children. The sperm can be taken and used through IVF which stands for “in vitro fertilization”. It helps people trying for a baby to fertilize the egg with a sperm in a lab first and then insert the fertilized egg back inside the mother.

    • Photo: Dominic Eggbeer

      Dominic Eggbeer answered on 17 Mar 2016:

      I’ve seen some very nasty injuries and visited Headley Court (where military personnel get treated) a few yeas to see how technology was used in rehabilitation. Advances in surgical techniques have led to lots of cases where males and females have had genitalia injured. It’s not my area of expertise, but don’t believe there’s much that can be done to restore lost reproductive function sadly.

      There’s a big challenge for engineers, surgeons and other specialists.

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